f Assembly 
dental than otherwise. The presence or absence of bituminous matter 
as characterizing different ages or formations of coal, is worthy of little 
reliance. We here find rocks of great thickness and extent containing 
so much bituminous matter as to render its presence observable on per- 
cussion; and cavities are oftenfound filled with petroleum. Some of the 
shales contain so much of this substance that they will ignite; and yet all 
the fossil vegetables are a few species of Fucoides, the prevailing fossils 
in all these rocks being marine Testacea. The same rocks, too, that in 
our district are bituminous, in the eastern part of the State are entirely 
destitute of this substance; and in the latter place bear the same relation 
to the anthracite that the former do to the bituminous coal of Pennsyl- 
vania. I assert this from having carefully observed all the rocks, from 
the carboniferous or mountain limestone of the Helderbergh, {not bitu- 
minousj) to the anthracite coal mines of Carbondale, Wilkesbarre, Ply- 
mouth, &c. Pa.; and from the same limestone of Black-Rock, (highly 
bituminous,) tracing its connection with the coal of the northern coun- 
ties of Pennsylvania. The fossil vegetables of the two coals are, many 
of them, identical, and if they were not it would be no argument in fa- 
vor of different ages, for in the different or successive beds of anthracite, 
in the same neighborhood, we almost always find different species of 
ferns and other fossil plants. 
In general, each bed of coal is characterised by some species of fern, 
which prevails in that ore more abundantly than in any other. I feel 
confident that further examinations will prove the identity of the bi- 
tuminous and anthracite coals, which, by some geologists, have been 
considered as distinct formations.*" 
From examinations made along the valley of the Genesee river from 
Lake Ontario to beyond the southern limit of the State, I have con- 
structed a section showing at a glance the connection of the rocks of 
the 4th District, with the coal measures of Pennsylvania, and the im- 
probability, if not impossibility of finding coal within the State of New- 
York.f In many places, and at the most interesting points along this 
line, we have natural sections of the rocks in the mural banks of the 
river, which at some points has worn its channel from 200 to 350 feet 
vertically into the rocky strata. These points afford some of the grand- 
est views of rocks and scenery, and at the same time afford admirable 
* Prof. Eaton, in his geological text book, published in 1832, suggested that the anthracite 
and bituminous coals were of the same age, but this appears to have been overlooked by those 
who have examined this formation. 
t See section from the mouth of the Geneste river to Instantur, Pa. 
